Via Axios, the new Substack competitor Beehiiv is trying a unique way to encourage gutsy journalism.
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The new fund will help beehiv build the tools, resources, and operational support systems needed to help journalists scale their newsletter products on the platform, the company said.
Journalists will receive a monthly health insurance stipend and will get access to beehiiv’s network of insurance partners. They will also get access to pre-publish legal review support and up to $1 million in errors and omissions coverage, a type of professional liability insurance.
The company will provide access to editorial software such as Perplexity Pro and Getty Images, as well as backend office software for things like accounting. Writers will get access to account managers and will receive business strategy support.
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SMART!
Other social media, including Substack, simply offer easy publishing and assistance with publicity and marketing. Publicity doesn’t help if you don’t feel secure against unexpected attacks and expenses.
Strikes me as parallel to the Mutual Benefit Society approach to life. MBS was insurance, not welfare.
It’s hard to be an independent worker if you worry about medical expenses and lawsuits. Serious journalists (if any still exist) are special targets for lawsuits. Newspapers used to keep libel lawyers on retainer to protect their reporters.
Countries with universal health coverage have far more independent businesses. Countries with loser-pays legal systems make it easier to run a business without the risk of blackmail by lawyers working for billionaire gangsters.
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Later, I tried to look at Beehiiv to see what it was about, but there’s no easy way to SAMPLE the place. You need to sign up before you can even read anything, and you can’t see in advance what’s involved in signing up. That’s poor salesmanship!
Later again: I think I understand. Beehiiv is NOT a shopping mall like Substack and Twitter, where you can wander the aisles and check out various stores and kiosks. It’s just a property rental service, renting storefronts wherever you want to put them. In digital terms it’s like WordPress and Blogspot, which don’t offer browsing for readers. Unlike WordPress or Blogspot, Beehiiv is a property rental service in Mutual Benefit form. In other words, it’s exactly the new type of commerce I’ve been wishing and praying for, but it’s not something I can personally use at the moment. If the mutual protection cultivates some truly independent journalists, I’ll enjoy them.
Polistra's Mill 